Kaius gasped as he came back to himself. The heady rush of his body being suffused with quintessence hadn’t left him yet. The remoulding of his Class and Skills had felt like downing a beer and being punched in the jaw at the same time, leaving him almost woozy. Yet despite that, he struggled to feel anything but glee.

  Four of his General Skills had evolved. He wasn’t sure if that was below average or not, but three of them had risen to the rank of Heroic — his current limit. It meant a full seventy percent now sat at that lauded barrier.

  It was as fine a result as he could have hoped for, he thought. Especially since the remaining three were still Unique — only one rank below.

  He forced himself to sit with the sensation, eyes closed as he smiled at the feeling of change. With so many differences, it was important that he come to terms with the subtle changes in sensation he got with his skills.

  As much as he wanted to rip open their descriptions, there was no rush.

  That wasn’t the only change. He could feel the subtle transformation that quintessence had wrought in him. It wasn’t overwhelming; not some drastic empowerment beyond all others.

  But it had been applied to his base — which meant his stats simply worked better. It was a hard thing to ignore. His thoughts were faster, his body swifter and stronger, his soul more resilient.

  While it was hard to quantify, Kaius wouldn’t have been surprised if he was a tenth stronger in all aspects than he had been before.

  The most notable shift was in its effect on Authority. That latent sense of command lay heavy in the air around him, extending his locus of control outwards. It was a more solid and potent reflection of the aura of strength he had felt from others who had risen past the first tier.

  Reaching out, he pulled back that outward pressure until it lay just against his skin — mirroring what had once been done to him when he had first learned to Cycle; when Essence itself had crushed him with its weight.

  “Clever,” his guide said, smiling knowingly. “Even amongst true Path-takers, it’s uncommon for someone to so swiftly realize they have command of their aura. Especially amongst the newly integrated.”

  Kaius blinked, his eyes blurring for a moment. He was still atop the dwarven peak, surrounded by statues of his potential classes. Now that he had made his pick, they had returned to being hazy and insubstantial.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  His guide stepped forwards, crouching down so that they were at eye level.

  “While it’s uncommon for worlds like your own to get stuck at the first stage, they are not unknown to me. I have seen them many times before. Of those that manage to continue progressing, those who first walk the Path have their expectations shaped by those who rose through the tiers without it. It is vastly more difficult to control your aura, and the strength it projects, without Authority — at least consciously. When you are aggressive, it is palpable. When you try to hide…”

  His guide waved to him. Kaius caught on to what he was saying, and forced himself to be still — to quiet his breathing, like he would when stalking game.

  It suddenly became easier to hold his aura tight to his skin.

  His guide smiled “Like I said — clever. It’s not exactly difficult to do, but few consider doing it in the first place. At least, not in the first ten seconds after receiving their second class.”

  His guide rose to his feed, offering Kaius his arm. Taking it, Kaius felt himself pulled up by an impeccable strength.

  “Now, I do believe you’ve received some exciting new skills. Shall we go over them?”

  That he had. He could feel them bubbling inside him — a confusing mash of new instincts and senses, burning their way into his soul.

  Hardest to reconcile was how fluidly his command over them came to him on some subconscious level. They were familiar — like an old friend he’d forgotten, but whose features still felt familiar.

  He ripped open the waiting notifications, eager to see what had changed.

  Sergeant’s Insight:

  Legacy General Skill - Tier II

  Affinity: Martial, Fate

  Type: Survival, Insight, Body Enhancement

  Level 201

  Unique

  Live through a battle, and you might see dangers that don’t exist; live through a thousand and you learn to love death like a brother. It announces its arrival clearly, all you need to do is listen.

  Tier I:

  This Skill allows the user to identify dangers and general hazards through the thousand lessons that have been learnt in battle. Avoiding or preventing these dangers marks the user with their Peril

  Accumulated Peril is expended to highlight potential openings, and aid the user in exploiting them. This may also increase damage and decrease the effectiveness of enemy defenses.

  Enemy strength and Skills may decrease effectiveness of accumulated Peril in highlighting and exploiting openings.

  Tier II:

  When setting camp, any remaining accumulated Perill is spent to variably increase the recovery of the user and their team, as well as decreasing the perceptibility of their camp.

  Hazard Identification abilities increased.

  Peril capacity increased.

  Natural attrition of Peril is decreased.

  Each level significantly increases awareness of hazards.

  Each level reasonably increases amount of Peril absorbed from surviving dangers

  Each level moderately increases effectiveness of highlighting and exploiting openings.

  Each level moderately increases damage when exploiting openings.

  Each level slightly increases volume of Peril that can be accumulated.

  Each level slightly decreases the attrition rate of Peril.

  Evolved from: Explorer’s Toolkit (Unusual)

  Originally Merged from: Tracking, Sneak; Trap Finding; Orienteering; Herbalism; Cooking; Sense Weakness; Physical Conditioning

  Kaius read over the description with interest. It seemed he had gained more than simple evolutions — the skills themselves had passed into the second tier as well, unlocking additional functionality on top of their gains.

  He liked what he saw of Sergeant’s Insight. At a base level, Explorer’s Toolkit had been refocused into a more potent, directed form. Its combat capabilities — exactly what he had used it for most — had been sharpened.

  Plus, he’d managed to avoid a situation where it had become too focused. While he had wished for a combat-focused evolution, he had worried his awareness of dangers might become too narrow. Perhaps only focused on attacks rather than natural hazards and traps.

  Thankfully, it still described ‘general hazards’.

  Better yet, it had maintained some general utility. The recovery function added in its tier two functionality seemed an extension of the simple meals and poultices Explorer’s Toolkit had once aided him create. Except now it was spread more broadly — much like a sergeant would look after his men in the field.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Still, there was one thing he found curious. Peril. He wasn’t sure what it did, or how it worked.

  He gave his guide a questioning look. The man returned a knowing smile.

  “Your evolution, in this case, was influenced not just by your most common use of Explorer’s Toolkit, but by your Aspect and your class. Peril is not something you will have to manage, or even be conscious of. It is more of a siphoning of potential fates.”

  Kaius raised a brow. “I was under the impression fate skills were supposed to be vanishingly rare.”

  His guide bent back, hands on his belly, and laughed long and loud.

  “Oh, my boy, they are for most people. But most do not put in the effort you have.”

  Wiping his eyes, he straightened. “It’s not a true Fate skill in the way that comes to mind. Instead, it’s more like this: by using insight to avoid bad luck, the skill redirects some of that towards your enemies.”

  Kaius nodded. In his opinion, any fate skill was a good one. He would simply have to wait and see how it worked — he was especially curious about how the ‘visual representation of openings’ which the skill mentioned would present itself.

  He moved on, pulling up the next skill.

  Spellblade’s Harmonic Control:

  General Skill - Tier II

  Affinity: Arcane

  Type: Glyph-binding, Metamagic, Enhancement, Manipulation

  Level 201

  Heroic

  Where dissonance destroys, harmony binds. Master both, and your magic will be all the more potent for it.

  Tier I:

  This skill grants substantial control of mana within the body, at the cost of significantly impaired control outside of the body. Through mastery of mana resonance, mana can be actively shifted to be dissonant or harmonious — granting unstable destructiveness or durable solidity to spells at the moment of inscription.

  Tier II:

  Through continual use and development, sword arts utilising mana can be imbued with resonance.

  Each level substantially increases control over internal mana.

  Each level reasonably increases the potency of imbued resonance.

  Each level minutely increases control over external mana.

  Evolved from: Mana Manipulation (Unusual) > Resonance Amplification (Unique)

  Originally Merged from: Air Manipulation; Fire Manipulation; Water Manipulation; Earth Manipulation.

  Harmonic Control was a flashier change compared to Sergeant’s Insight — and in his opinion, a good one. His control over mana had improved, as had the potency of imbued resonance.

  Better still, it seemed he could now apply it to all of his spells, bolstering them with destructive or defensive resonance as needed. The fact that its second tier development allowed him to extend that enhancement to Mystic’s Rend and Runeblade Hymnfocus made it all the sweeter.

  Though, from a cursory glance within himself, he could feel it was no longer entirely passive. Conscious control through the skill would now be required to imbue the forces. It would slow his inscribing slightly, but more importantly, it meant he would need practice to wield it fluidly with his sword arts.

  Regardless, it was a good skill.

  “A good skill indeed,” his guide agreed. “Not every change needs to be radical or divergent to be a powerful fit.”

  Greater Regeneration:

  General Skill - Tier II

  Affinity: Life, Blood

  Type: Healing, Body Enhancement

  Level 201

  Heroic

  We live, and we hunger. Ours is the true history, an age of forgotten blood. Bind us in stone and cold iron you might, but you have not bested us. Wounds mean nothing, and all bindings crumble in the face of time and patience. Even if it takes an aeon for the wind to wear away our prison, we will still be waiting; we will still be hungry.

  Tier I:

  This skill dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of health-related regeneration, with even dire wounds vanishing in seconds. In addition, it makes health dramatically more effective at recovering from various natural afflictions such as bloodloss, shock, and sepsis.

  Empowered beyond lesser variants, this skill allows the user to operate normally through severe injury or bodily destruction, though doing so increases the draw on health.

  Allows the slow regeneration of missing body parts at increased health cost.

  Tier II:

  Dramatically improves the baseline regeneration of missing body parts, and allows the user to persist through wounds as long as they have health and their heart and brain remain intact.

  Improved scaling for health efficiency and healing speed.

  Improved scaling for capacity to persist through wounds.

  Each level substantially increases the speed of Health related regeneration.

  Each level moderately decreases the impact of natural maladies such as bloodloss, shock, and sepsis.

  Each level moderately reduces Health costs.

  Each level slightly increases capacity to persist with severely compromised bodily integrity.

  Each level infinitesimally improves regeneration of missing body parts.

  Evolved From: Lesser Regeneration (Unusual)

  Originally Merged from: Fast Healing, Stone Blood, Efficient Healing

  This was the one that had piqued his interest most.

  Greater Regeneration alone had jumped two rarity rankings. That he had received it in the first place, was not a surprise — his father had told him that many among their dynasty progressed Lesser Regeneration to its greater variant. He had made it sound like a natural development.

  Even so, Kaius assumed that while he had done it faster than most with his performance in the first tier, it was likely that the direct lineage between the two skills had eased the process.

  His guide nodded.

  “Quite right. The Hellion is a shock troop class, built on explosive violence and the expending of resources to stay in the fight. That helped. As did your achievements, and your significant use of the skill in the first tier. But you are correct — the extent of the jump was eased by the interlinked nature of the skills.”

  Kaius gave his guide a smile, before flicking back through the description.

  It was largely what he had expected: increased potency, effects expanded beyond simple blood loss. His father had always been cagey about the exact benefits, though Kaius could now safely assume the man had had the skill himself — if not an even further-developed variant.

  He was pleased to see true regeneration of missing limbs, even if it was currently slow.

  That would ease the pressure on their funds and make the loss of a limb an extended downtime rather than an end to an expedition. For people in their line of work, it would be silly to assume it wouldn’t happen at some point. In the future, with further evolutions or enough levels, he hoped the limb regeneration might develop to the point of being usable in combat.

  What he had not expected was the limited immortality the skill professed — allowing him to persist so long as his heart and brain remained intact, and Health still flowed.

  Of course, he doubted it would prove too influential in a true battle. If he was reduced to little more than a shattered pile of mush, his Health would vanish quickly.

  But still, even stabilizing him long enough for his team to secure victory and heal him with Ianmus’s magic, potions, and his own reserves of the vital energy— that was life-saving for a frontliner.

  He was also curious about the epithet. It seemed to refer to a group of dark creatures, blood-hungry and regenerative, just as Lesser Regeneration had once mentioned.

  If they were as terrible as they sounded, he hoped he would never meet them. Regenerating enemies were the worst.

  Still, at least now he knew to try the head and the heart. His guide gave him a knowing smile, but said nothing.

  Kaius just shook his head at the coy move, switching his attention to his last skill.

  Moment of Flow:

  General Skill - Tier II

  Affinity: Revelation, Martial

  Type: Insight, Precognition, Evasion, Body Enhancement

  Level 201

  Heroic

  Ride the strings of fate, and listen to their songs of weal and woe.

  Tier I:

  This Skill allows the user to sense incoming threats in advance, and how to best evade them. This insight presents as threads of movement of the user and their enemies that highlight potential paths to evade and reposition.

  When first sensing an incoming threat, this skill stimulates cognition to slow perceived time.

  When reacting to a perceived attack, this Skill bolsters the user's speed, control, reflexes, and flexibility.

  Certain effects may impede this insight

  Tier II:

  Evasive paths now highlight potential methods of counterattack.

  Each level reasonably increases the effectiveness of revealed threads of movement

  Each level reasonably improves the skill’s ability to counteract impeding effects.

  Each level reasonably increases speed, control, reflexes and flexibility when dodging.

  Each level slightly lengthens the window of warning prior to the impending danger.

  Each level slightly increases perceived time during initial warning

  Evolved From: Uncanny Dodge (Unique)

  Originally Merged from: Danger Sense, Dodge

  He sucked in a breath.

  Moment of Flow might have lost those rare twists of fate Uncanny Dodge had occasionally provided, but Kaius cared little when he saw the improvement to his physical capabilities while dodging.

  Beyond that, the fact the skill directly highlighted methods of evasion and counterattack — while giving him increased time to react — was massive. Especially when he considered how well it would mesh with Sergeant’s Insight and his own Mercurial Reversal.

  In some ways, it was a simple development. But it was one that fit him well.

  His guide clapped, pulling Kaius out of his thoughts. Looking over, Kaius saw him standing next to a door that had not been there moments before.

  “Shall we? You still need to evolve Drakthar — and pick a spell for it as well.”

  “Of course,” Kaius replied eagerly.

  Following his guide’s lead, he stepped through the doorway and once again found himself in a familiar place: the training hall where Rieker had once guided them, honing their abilities deep beneath Deadacre’s Guild Hall.

  Scattered through the vast open space were two blackboards, each bearing a glyph that pulsed and shifted before his eyes — never letting him get a complete glimpse of what they held.

  His guide was already hurrying toward them; Kaius rushed in pursuit.